Drivers Gear Up For Marathon

Soeed Weekend

CONCORD, N.C. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s first Winston Cup race was last year's Coca-Cola 600, with 600 being the part of the race title that causes all this grief. It's over the final 100 miles of NASCAR's longest and most grueling race that even the best of drivers can begin to lose concentration.

"The mental fatigue just began to set in,'' Earnhardt recalled. "The last hundred miles I was wandering around and thinking and carrying on and wondering what I was going to do the next day. I was thinking about little crap, like `Did I leave the stove on at home?'''

For Earnhardt, NASCAR's hottest driver and the polesitter for tonight's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway just outside Charlotte, home is just a 15-minute spin up I-85 to Kannapolis, N.C. This time around, it's hard to imagine any 25-year-old rookie with more confidence or a more easygoing attitude than "Little E.''

So while Earnhardt cooly strolls around the garage area here signing autographs, chatting with fans and seemingly never turning down one of his countless interview requests, more veteran drivers are thinking about things like diet, car insulation, quality of parts and midrace adjustment strategy. Earnhardt seems more concerned with the quality of his beer (Budweiser, of course) and why members of his crew failed to show up for a party he threw last week.

"I mean what's up with that?'' asked Earnhardt, who even won The Winston, an all-star race here last Saturday. "Ain't we supposed to be tight?''

Earnhardt acknowledges that he's loving all this attention. And even though he's so consistently candid he "all but guarantees'' a top-five finish in tonight's race, he seems to have the respect of the guys in neighboring garages.

"I knew he had a lot of talent,'' Dale Jarrett said. "But I thought it would take them a little more time as a team to get to where they could consistently run fast and up front.''

Among the unique aspects of this race, which will attract approximately 200,000 fans, is that it begins in the daylight (6:15 p.m. start time) and ends about four hours later under the night lights. Though all agree it is physically demanding on driver, crew and car, not everyone agrees on just how demanding.

Steve Park, for example, said he'll load up on bananas before the race. Johnny Benson said he'll be sure to drink plenty of extra fluids today. Ricky Rudd said his team will go over his car a few extra times, to account for the few extra miles.

And then there's Mark Martin, who knows a thing or two about running at the former Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he's finished fourth or better, including two victories, in nine of his past 10 races. He thinks all the extra concerns are hogwash.

"I live every day like it's a 600-miler,'' Martin said. "I know a lot of guys have a big plate of pasta, which I think is a joke because the human body is not like a car.'' Martin conceded that weather conditions -- it will be about 90 degrees at race start, and the chance of showers brings a promise of high humidity -- could play a factor in the race.

"The condition of the racetrack changes minute-to-minute,'' Tony Stewart said.

Jeff Burton, who won the race last year, said his team has tried to repeat the near-perfect car setup that helped him last year.

"The biggest obstacle a team faces in the 600 is finding a setup which meets the conditions offered in the daytime and the nighttime,'' said Burton. Among the other drivers who can be expected to run near the front of the pack are Jeff Gordon, who won this race in 1997 and '98; Bobby Labonte, the Winston Cup series points leader; and Jarrett, who won this race in 1996.

"It's going to be a competitive race, probably one of the more competitive ones we've seen here,'' Jarrett said. "I'd like to lead 400 laps, but that's probably not going to happen. In a 600-mile race, the first 450 don't make a lot of difference.''